


The Art of Seduction

by Rootwithanaxe



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Artists, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-30
Updated: 2015-09-30
Packaged: 2018-04-24 02:57:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4902904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rootwithanaxe/pseuds/Rootwithanaxe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Root is a painter. Shaw is a photographer. Shaw accidentally interrupts Root’s morning doodling in a coffee shop.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Art of Seduction

**Author's Note:**

> This was posted on Tumblr ages ago, so I thought I'd get it up here. I'm new to this, but I hope you enjoy!

"Listen, you're the one who kicked over my paintings." Root said with a smirk, staring directly into the dark brown eyes across the table from her. Root leaned in closer towards the other girl and invaded her space, pushing boundaries as her grin widened. 

Sameen did not move away. What was it about this girl that made her keep getting closer and closer to Sameen's face? Sameen didn't like it, but remained motionless to make sure this painter knew it. 

"That was an accident and you know it!" she responded back. Sameen didn't care what this girl thought about her. "Besides, I think I did your paintings a favour." Leaning back in her chair content with her remark and sneaking a sip of her coffee. All Sameen did was knock over Root's stack of art and now somehow they were sitting and talking in this tiny coffee shop one rainy morning.

"Well, there's no need to be rude. My paintings were just fine before you marked them up.” Root picked one up that showed some damage and looked it over. After a few moments Root was still gazing at her past work, contemplating its meaning. “I want my work to show real people, the people we are underneath everything. Hopefully they reflect what’s behind the masks we put on.” Sameen’s silence encouraged Root to continue. “For example, look across the room to that man sitting with his wife. He's having an affair and she has no idea. Look, you can see his finger and how worn the ring is, from taking it on and off, but he's wearing a suit, so you know it’s not because he works with his hands all day and is always taking it off for his job. And he's here with his wife, who’s happy as can be, clueless. It's awful how he can go on fooling her, and she is blind to who she's really married to."

“What? You’re making that up. How can you possibly know that for sure?”

“A girl never reveals her secrets.” Root said with a smirk, her foot knocking against Sameen’s lower leg. Sameen rolled her eyes, annoyed. Annoyed she had been sitting here this long; annoyed that Root was keeping her intrigued and longing for a real answer.

“That’s insane. You’re insane. I want the truth.” 

“Well, what can I say, mankind is rotten to the core.”

Sameen, unhappy with the response, decided to change her strategy. She leaned in. She held still, a breath away from Root’s mouth. Her brown eyes holding Root in place. A smile began to spread across her lips.

“Root, please?” she whispered as softly as she could, with a slight moan at the edge of her words.

Root’s pupils immediately dilated, her breath got caught in her lungs, and she felt her jaw and the rest of her body go limp. Root couldn’t help the small whimper that escaped her lips when Sameen didn’t back away. After a moment, she gulped and she sat back into her chair.

“Alright, alright I’ll tell you.” Root said giving up. Sameen let her smirk spread wide across her face, reveling in victory. “I wonder what else you could pull out of me with that mouth of yours if you wanted to.” Root remarked as she gave a wink in Sameen’s direction, and without missing a beat or letting Sameen respond, she continued talking. “There was a different young girl with him half an hour ago and they were more than friendly with each other." Sameen, exasperated, rolled her eyes again at the reason behind Root’s deduction. She shifted her attention to the couple across the room. She could see that the wife looked painfully oblivious to her husband's schemes. It gave Sameen more justification for keeping people at a distance; they were untrustworthy.

"People treat each other horribly and think they can get away with it. I like to paint them as they really are. Terrible and flawed. Bad code." Root said as she showed Sameen her early sketches of the man. She was working on him when Sameen interrupted by tripping on the other completed paintings beside her. There were a lot of dark lines and hard edges and it gave a real sense of the murky truth hidden under the charming man’s grin. “There’s a lot of creative freedom when you add colors and paint as an extension of what we see. It can just flow out from you sometimes. It adds that other layer that we can’t see, or that we don’t want to see.” Sameen liked what she saw, but she'd never admit that, and she felt a genuine connection to Root and how she was describing her work. Sameen couldn’t help but feel a slight warmth rush over her as she listened with awe. She suddenly noticed she was staring at Root and she quickly looked down, hoping not to give too much away.

"So, I've shown you mine, can I see yours?” Root said with a giant grin running along her face plastered with innuendo.

"Seriously?" replied Sameen as she rolled her eyes at Root who effectively ruined the warm moment for her.

"What? You said you were an artist of sorts too. Can I see what you've been working on?" Root asked, playing with the pencils she had all over the table. All different, all used for different techniques in Root's early doodles of the soon-to-be painting. 

Sameen only responded with a sigh as she took out her camera from her bag at her feet and turned it on. She began flipping through the countless photos from her last job. She stopped when she got to her own personal photos. Sameen thought for a second, then turned the camera in Root’s direction so she could see. She had no idea why she was showing this complete stranger her work that she never shared with anyone. Ever. Her pictures. Her art. Herself. Sameen’s camera revealed her more recent shots from the way over. They captured little moments like chess between seemingly carefree masters, birds eating out of small generous hands, boats with the waves and ripples they left behind, people embracing with large smiles, full of stories. The authenticity and integrity of each shot stunned Root. The simplicity was captivating. Root moved impossibly close to Sameen to see the pictures on the small screen on the camera she was holding.

Shaw felt a sense of vulnerability between them, got nervous, and began to ramble. “I still think that with people, what you see is what you get. Capturing them like this can show off their true nature, without the need for a paintbrush. None of this hiding ourselves in layers for the sake of other people stuff. Do what you want and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. So when I can steal a moment from someone reflecting a part of their true self, that’s when I know I have the perfect shot.”

When Sameen glanced up from her camera she noticed Root was no longer looking at the screen or the multitude of pictures, but at Sameen’s lips instead. Root’s hand inched towards Sameen’s as she placed the camera back on the table. Sameen’s heart was pounding along with the shallow breaths coming from Root. Sameen felt her mind go blank as she watched Root lick her own lips, biting her bottom lip as an involuntary response. Mouths inches apart, Sameen could feel the electricity between them break as Root’s phone buzzed.

Root broke her stare and glanced down at her phone. Seeing the message, she quickly began shuffling away from Sameen, collecting her things and tossing them in her bag. Sameen needed a moment to gather her thoughts, taking their time to return to her head.

“Gotta go, sweetie, but this was nice. We’re so good together, let’s do this again sometime.” Root said getting up from the table.

Once Root grabbed all her newly marked up paintings and was ready to go, she bent over, one hand on Sameen’s shoulder, and whispered “By the way, my favourite shots of yours are all the self portraits.”

Sameen blinked and finally came back to earth, but by then, Root was gone. 

What? she thought. Flipping back through her photos she had showed Root, she couldn’t find any of the photos she has taken of herself. 

How did she..... ?

…

 

Sameen had an interesting Tuesday. Her encounter with Root, the mystery girl at the coffee shop, had her off her game for the rest of the day. She came home to relax in her studio apartment and maybe finally get this girl out of her head. Sameen doubted it would help, but she grabbed a beer from the fridge, opened it, and took the first sip. She couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe someday they’re paths would cross again.

Just then, her phone vibrated with a new message. It was from a blocked number. Sameen let a smile creep across her face when she read it, amazed and bewildered, yet not all that surprised. With four words Sameen knew her evening would soon be just as interesting. 

“Hey sweetie, you busy?”

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic, as you can probably tell, but let me know what you think. I plan to write more, probably not with this AU, but I'm a pretty slow writer.


End file.
